Christmas is here so let us forget our sorrows for a few days, recharge our batteries and have fun. Have a great Christmas everyone and let us hope that 2013 is a better one … and remember, librarians are in the only profession where borrowing going up is a good thing.

The chair of the LGA finance panel, Sharon Taylor, was questioned about this on Radio Five and used libraries as a direct example of a service that libraries would “become almost unsustainable”. Well done to her for standing up for libraries, by the way.

Eric Pickles, the Communities secretary, appeared to call library campaigners “luvvies” in Parliament today. He also put forward the view that Cultural services such as cultural institutions should make money. On the same day, a new graph – called the “Jaws of Doom” – shows that the planned cuts in council budgets combined with an increased demand for their services will mean a cut of nearly half in council’s spending. This will mean – as the people of Newcastle (one of the few councils who have made their plans public for the next three years, rather than for just one) have discovered – the effective end of Arts provision and, at least, the halving of public library provision. Not that Pickles will care, especially as he appears to believe that such cuts can be achieved solely by efficiencies. Conveniently for him, this means that he can blame councils – and not his own policies – for any cuts in services. As a campaigner pointed out in an email I saw today, it also means that it’s “becoming clear that the real purpose of the Localism Act was to transfer blame, not power, to local authorities”. That the public will protest actively against such cuts has been more than proved by the last two years of protest. Expect a lot more to come.

The above eye-catching headline is not about libraries generally, nor the average time left for paid members of staff (although it feels like it) but the window of opportunity that public libraries have with e-books before things are settled. An important article looks at the subject in some depth from different points of view.

In these hard-nosed times, one of the key weapons libraries have of defending their worth is to point out their economic value. Two new resources have been produced by Carl Clayton (in his private capacity) that will be useful in this regard:

The economic value of public libraries – Depression costs the Uk £12bn. Bibliotherapy – as well as library’s help in job hunting etc – can greatly help those suffering from depression. “Every pound spent on library services will create a future saving in costs for the council. It is not possible to quantify this saving exactly but a comparison of the limited cost of the library service with the large costs of depression (not to mention other illnesses) indicates that this would be significant.”

Value of public library services – Covers “published reports that consider the value of public library services in a quantitative sense.” Lists and summarises some very useful documents including some unfamiliar ones such as a Norwegian study showing that libraries have a cost benefit ratio of 1:4

For volunteers, a new court decision has meant that volunteers cannot claim under employment law unless they have a contract or are undergoing vocational training. This removes an obstacle for volunteers taking over libraries in that it frees them from having to worry about employment law with their unpaid workers. Of course, it’s also equally a detriment to those same volunteers who cannot appeal to the same rights that paid workers have, at least in this instance.

“BBC Radio 4 wants to hear from library users for a major programme. They would like library users to contact them using the link on the BBC Radio 4 Open Book contact page explaining in not more that 1,000 words “what does your public library mean to you and your family … please encourage everyone to use the link and write about the importance of libraries and local concerns. I stress that they want to hear from library users, young and old.” Desmond Clarke, via email.

The BookSeller has reported on the stakeholder meeting (covered here in the last but one post) and it makes some subtly different changes, like the date of when 12% of libraries are likely to be “community supported” and what it actually means. Otherwise, there’s an interesting conference in Edinburgh next year (the Edge) and the news that “free news” online may be on its way out will further support the argument for libraries.

The CIPFA stats have already been widely discussed but a few new things still jump out to me. The first is that usage is declining very much in line with library budgets. It’s no secret that you get what you pay for. The UK has decided that it wants a library service that costs 5.1% less (hang on, is that measured for inflation? If not, that’s a 7.6% cut in one year) than last year. It therefore gets a library service that is 5.1% less attractive than last year.

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Numbers

From 1st January 2017, 100 libraries are under threat (5 in Bath, 17 in Bristol, 17 in Bury, 5 in Cheshire East, 3 in Cumbria, 7 in East Sussex, 4 in Liverpool, 7 in Midlothian, 21 in Northamptonshire, 10 in Plymouth, 4 in South Tyneside).

Since 1st April 2016 to end of March 2017. CIPFA reported 105 libraries closed, bringing the total to 3745 branches. 2015 to end of March 2016: CIPFA reported 121 libraries closed, bringing the total to 3850 libraries.
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(April 1st 2015 to end of March 2016) 211 static and 39 mobile libraries (Aberdeen, Bracknell Forest, Bradford, Brighton & Hove, Cambridgeshire, Central Bedfordshire, Ceredigion, Croydon, Darlington, Dorset, Enfield, Falkirk, Fife, Greenwich, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Isle of Wight, Kirklees, Lambeth, Lancashire, Lewisham, Neath Port Talbot, Norfolk, Nottingham, Orkney, Oxfordshire, Pembrokeshire, Reading, Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Ayrshire, South Gloucestershire, South Lanarkshire, Staffordshire, Stockton, Swindon, Telford & Wrekin, Walsall, West Berkshire and Wiltshire) have been put under threat
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In financial year 2014/15, there was a decline of 106 public libraries, (with 260 static libraries were put under threat of closure/passing to volunteers. 9 mobile libraries under threat in the same period). .

There are currently 3850 libraries in the UK (CIPFA figures for 2015/16). There were 4023 in 2013/14, 4482 in 2009/10 and 4622 in 2003/4.
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The complete list is on "Tally by Local Authority" page as are other changes to budgets such as cuts to hours, bookfund and staffing. CIpfa have calculated that 121 service points lost in 2015/16, 106 service points were lost in 2014/15, 49 were lost in 2013/14, 74 were lost in 2012/13, 201 in 2011/12, 33 in 2010/11.
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For a list of new and refurbished buildings see this page,

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I would also like to add at this point my thanks to Shirley Burnham for her frequent emails with relevant public libraries news which I then use as a a large part of the material for this site.

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